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MegaFon to Flow Into Persian Gulf
Russia’s MegaFon cellular operator is ready to funnel roughly ˆ3 billion in the cellular net construction in Iran, MegaFon CEO Sergei Soldatenkov announced yesterday, when opening the company’s office in Teheran. MegaFon has solid chances to emerge as a big player on Iranian market, the analysts speculate, reasoning that, in today’s political environment, the market is closed for the Anglo-Saxon companies.
MegaFon opens an office in Iran to bid for the third cellular license, Soldatenkov announced yesterday, specifying that even the toughest competition won’t scare them. MegaFon International (MegaFon subsidiary in charge of the international business of the company) is ready to invest roughly ˆ3 billion in constructing the net in Iran.
Iran intends to release the third GSM license in mid-2008 to launch the third GSM net this October and widen the subscriber base to 35 million by the end of 2009. But the tender hasn’t been officially announced yet.
Iran has two GSM operators so far – the government-controlled Iran Telecommunication Company (ITC) that covers 81 percent of the market and MTN Irancell with the share of 19 percent. According to Iran’s officials, the subscriber base is roughly 28 million (the population equals 71 million), and the penetration level has reached 40 percent.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 13, 2008
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